Indian realty majors are adopting precast technology in building their latest projects. The main advantages of precast technology are quality, speed of construction, and a value-for-money product

To avoid labour shortage, time delays and with an aim to deliver quality products, developers and builders are now adopting precast technology. The main advantages of precast technology are quality, speed of construction, and a value-for-money product. The use of such technology helps in saving up to 64% of the time taken for similar projects using normal construction methods and technology. In other words, if normal brick-and-mortar method takes one year to complete a project, the precast method takes about four months.

Supertech Ltd claims to be the first company in the realty market to use precast technology. Supertech Precast Technology Private Limited, a precast construction works, has been set up in Greater Noida West (Noida Extension). It has a production capacity of 5 million sq ft area per annum. The company has set up two separate units - one for hollow slabs and another for precast wall panels. All machines and units are imported from Germany. Currently, the technology is only being used abroad. The use of this technology can bring down the construction cost by 10-15% and it could be deployed to bridge the demandsupply gap in the affordable housing segment.

Precast technology has proved its worth by saving a lot of construction time in the Europe and the Middle East. The best part of the technology is that it not only speeds up the construction work but also enhances the quality of the final output. Also, it helps in creating bigger carpet area.

R K Arora, CMD of Supertech Ltd, says: "Fifty thousand customers will be benefited by the use of this new precast concrete technology in our projects. This technology will help in keeping up the tempo of construction in all seasons. Also, the quality of the output will be better in comparison to the regular brick-and-mortar projects. Structures built using this technology do not need plastering, as this method makes the surface very smooth, requiring very little maintenance. But what's important is that precast strengthens the overall solidness of the unit, which is what customers look for."

"We have set up a '60,000 sq metre' precast manufacturing unit in Greater Noida West, where roofs, walls and floors of the units of our projects will be fabricated. There will be a defined space for windows and doors and all fittings like electrical, plumbing, TV, telephone, etc, shall be laid before concreting. Everything will be controlled through computer-based system monitoring. Ultimately, this technology helps in making the structure stronger and better shaped," R K Arora says.

Sobha Developers has also set up a concrete products division (CPD) in Jigani Industrial Area, near Bangalore. Other realty players like Gaursons, Raheja Group, Ajnara, Antriksh and Orris Infrastructures, too, have plans to use precast technology in the future.

Concrete products are ideal for a variety of applications like readyto-use and easy-to-install concrete pavers, which saves time and effort; they have high resistance to inclement weather conditions and corrosive elements for a longer time and have highly attractive finishing.

Anil Sharma, the CMD of Amrapali Group, says: "We had foreseen this situation two years ago. We are setting up our own precast factory at Greater Noida. The factory is over 25 acres and will be operational by January."

Jagadish Nangineni, the regional head (NCR) of Sobha Developers, says: "The technology is very versatile and equally suitable for all types of construction, be they highrise, low-rise, villas, commercial projects, parking lots, etc. The advantages in adopting this technology are structural stability, speedy and quality construction, flexibility, wastage control and less manpower requirement. Other than this the strength of this technology is low maintenance, greater seismic resistance, quick turnover of money and universal applications."

Sumit Khanna, the MD of Unimexx Infra Ltd, says: "Precast technology saves a lot of construction time and offers quality, value and speed at the same time. Not only does it speed up construction, but it also enhances the quality of the final output. This technology reduces construction cost by 10-15%. Also, precast and engineered home material eliminates the need for auxiliary activities like plastering, electrical wiring, etc."

Precast technology is already being used in Europe, Dubai, Malaysia, Singapore, etc. Using precast technology on a large scale will help construction companies in delivering better results than in earlier times.

Precast concrete can contribute to sustainable design in many ways. It is versatile and durable, produced under stringent quality control measures in a factory by highly trained personnel, with virtually no wastage. The precast panels can be quickly erected on the job site with minimal disruption to the site and precast thermal mass can save energy and increase comfort.

This technology consists of custom-designed precast concrete components like roof slabs, beams, columns, wall panels, etc, which offer flexibility in shape and size with a variety of surface finishes and colours. This technology promises a world of creative possibilities in application and design. This offers an abundance of choice for the architect and engineers to create buildings unique in character and of exceptionally high quality.

These components are manufactured or cast in strictly controlled environment with stateofthe-art machinery and are erected on the site with the help of tower cranes. The components are then joined to each other as per specification with grouts and screed to provide rigidity and the requisite strength to the structure.

COST FACTOR

The cost of construction with this technology is marginally higher than the conventional method, theoretically, but on practical considerations when we consider the wastage-control and speed of construction with best of quality and with virtually no repair or reworking cost, it works out to the same value and, eventually, the clients will get much superior product on the same amount of investment.

INVESTMENT-FRIENDLY

Precast technology is considered investment-friendly; while margins are not going to be affected much, the quality of the product will be enhanced in a big way and deliver of the project can be made within the stipulated time frame. The government is also promoting this technology and, recently, DDA completed around 800 units with this technology.

NEED FOR PRECAST TECHNOLOGY

There is a huge shortfall in meeting the housing demand in India. A report of the urban development and housing ministry pegs the current demand at nearly 27 million units and says that the project execution challenges include shortages in skilled manpower; also, it admits that the current execution capacity based on traditional brick and mortar is hugely limited.

Housing as an industry is still hand crafted and heavily dependent on manual labour and on-site construction, which leads to large amount of material wastage, labor inefficiency and delay in project delivery.